Performance assessment innovations for elite snowb

ProcediaEngineeringProcediaEngineering00(2009)000±000www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia8thConferenceoftheInternationalSportsEngineeringAssociation(ISEA)PerformanceAssessmentInnovationsforEliteSnowboardingJasonWilliamHarding1,2,3*andDanielArthurJames3,41DepartmentofPhysiology,AustralianInstituteofSport,CanberraACT2616,Australia2OlympicWinterInstituteofAustralia,MelbourneVIC3205,Australia3CentreforWirelessMonitoringandApplications,GriffithUniversity,BrisbaneQLD4111,Australia4CentreofExcellenceforAppliedSportScienceResearch,QueenslandAcademyofSport,BrisbaneQLD4111,AustraliaReceived31January2010;revised7March2010;accepted21March2010AbstractThispaperprovidesareviewofobjectiveperformanceassessmentinelitehalf-pipesnowboarding.Half-pipesnowboardingiscurrentlycoachedandjudgedincompetitionusingsubjectivemeasures.Likeothersportsthatrelyonsubjectivityhowever,themethodologyunderpinninghowcoachesassessathleticprogressionandjudgesscoreperformanceisopenfordebate.Thispaperfocusesontechnologyassisted,objectiveperformanceassessment.Keyconsiderationsarethespecificityoftheinformation,theaccuracyandreliabilityofresults,theprocessingtimerequiredandthecurrentaccessibility.©2009PublishedbyElsevierLtd.Keywords:Snowboarding;Halfpipe;Technology;Objectivity;Performance;Judging;1.SnowboardingAndSubjectivityOnceconsideredthepastimeofsocialmisfitsandsubversivenomadsrenegingonadultresponsibilities,snowboardinghasfastbecomeapremierelitesportingdiscipline[1,2,3].Regardlessofitsunderlyingantiauthoritarianandcountercultureideology,snowboardingisasportingdisciplinetheOlympicmovementhasbeenkeentoembraceinitsattempttoretainacontinuallyshiftingyouthmarket[2,3].Thesportofsnowboardingseemscurrentlyjuxtaposedbetweenitstraditionalidealsoffreedom,hedonismandrebellionandtheathleticidealsofdiscipline,control,andcontinualperformanceenhancement[1,2,4].Thispaperisfocusedpurelyonobjectivemethodstoimproveathleticperformanceandjudgingreliability.IthashoweverbeenundertakenwithconsiderationRIWKHVSRUW¶VWUaditionalideologiesandemphasisofthe³SUDFWLFHFRPPXQLW\´onthemorestylisticaspectsofperformance.Thecurrentrelianceonsubjectiveperformanceassessmentinhalf-pipetrainingandathletepreparationfailstoutilizethebenefitsofobjectiveinformation.Incompetition,therelianceonsubjectivityisanopendoorforpotentialbiasandjudgingcorruption[4].Forcoaches,athletesandjudgeswhoareinvolvedinelitesnowboardingcompetition,objectiveperformanceassessmentissomethingthatisyettobeutilizedtoitsfullpotential.Thispaperthereforediscussesanumberofperformanceassessmentmethodsthatfocusonobjectivity*JasonHarding.Tel.:[phone]E-mailaddress:[e-mail]2(2010)2919–2924www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia1877-7058c2010PublishedbyElsevierLtd.doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2010.04.0882J.W.Harding&D.A.James/ProcediaEngineering00(2010)000±000specifictosnowboardperformance.Whilstvideobasedanalysishasthecapacitytoprovideobjectiveperformanceinformation[4,5,6],wearableandothertechnologiesholdthekeytounlockingnovelperformanceassessmentconceptswithinsnowboarding.Thispaperisareviewoftechnologicallybasedmethodsofobjectiveperformanceassessmentfocusingontheirspecificity,accuracy,reliabilityandcurrentaccessibility.Half-pipesnowboardingconsistsofanathleteperformingaseriesofaerialacrobaticmaneuversonaspecialcoursemadeofsnow.Althoughdimensionsvary,elitecompetitionhalf-pipesarecommonly160±200mlong,18mwide,possessaninclinationofapproximately18degreesandhavewalltransitionsof7-8m[7].Thesportisfocusedonprovidingaplatformallowingindividualityandathleticfreedomofexpressionandtheroutinesperformedbycompetitorsarecurrentlyjudgedincompetitionbyasubjectivemeasuretermedoverallimpression(OI).OItakesintoaccountanumberofsportspecificcomponentssuchasamplitude,degreeofrotation,difficulty,styleandexecution,thesequenceandcombinationofmaneuvers,theuseofthehalf-pipeincludingthelinetakenandhowarunprogressesandflows[7,8].Thereis³SUDFWLFHFRPPXQLW\´awarenessthatasubjectivefocuscanpotentiallyidentifyincorrectresults.Howeverthereisalsoastrongandsomewhatparadoxicalperceptionthatthismethodofassessmentisamajorstrength[9,10].2.CompetitionAndObjectivityObjectiveanalysisofsnowboardinghasattractedconsiderableinterestfromtheresearchcommunity[11-19]butonlyafewhavefocusedonperformanceinhalf-pipesnowboarding[6,17-19].Notationalanalysisfocusedonobjectivevariableswithdirectcorrelationtohalf-pipecompetitionperformancehaspreviouslybeenundertakenwithpromisingresults[4,6].Thereisstrongcommunityperceptionthatair-time(AT)anddegreeofrotation(DR)playamajorroleinhalf-pipecompetitionsuccess[9,10].Thecombinationsofthesevariablesandtheamountofsharedvariancetheyexplainincompetitionscoreshowevercanonlyeverbedeterminedobjectively.Videoanalysisiswidelyusedinsnowboardingasaformofperformanceanalysis,thoughitisprimarilyfocusedonsubjectiveenhancementofstyleandtrickexecution.Videobasedanalysishowevercanalsobeusedtoobjectivelyassessperformancevariablesspecifictothesport.InstudiesthathavecalculatedobjectiveinformationonATandDRinhalf-pi